Everton will refuse to pay over the odds to renew Louis Saha's contract, even if it means risking losing the French striker.

Goodison boss David Moyes revealed yesterday that negotiations are ongoing with the former Manchester United forward, who has just six months left on his contract.

"There are bits and pieces going on right now with Saha's contract, but there is no real rush to get it done immediately because he is under contract until the end of the season," Moyes explained.

"The big thing was to get Louis on the pitch as much as we can, and we;ve done that. The negotiations are ongoing with the chairman and Louis' representatives. He cannot sign a pre contract with another English club, so we have no hurry."

Everton visit Arsenal this afternoon, hoping to lay the ghost of the 6-1 mauling they suffered at the hands of the Gunners on the opening day of the campaign.

Moyes said: "It was a real blow to us that defeat by Arsenal, and I do think it had a lasting effect at that time.

"It's not something you prepare your pre-season for but there were a lot of other circumstances involved. The game does have a knock-on effect, you look at the reason why that happened and you maybe start looking at the wrong reasons.†

"So it affected us for a long time, and we are only coming through it now. But we have played really well in recent weeks, and now we want to keep our momentum going.”